We Will Never Surrender.

Professor Rat. profrv at nex.com.au
Fri May 16 23:39:26 PDT 2003


Aceh's history of no surrender
By Sian Powell, Jakarta correspondent
May 17, 2003

THE rebel leader's voice rose to a half-shout: "We never surrendered to the 
Dutch, never. And we will never surrender to the Javanese."

Aceh's secessionist rebel movement will quote chunks of history at any 
sceptic who doubts the validity of their independence claims.

The resource-rich northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island was once a 
wealthy and powerful independent sultanate, with its own navy and standing 
army and, in the early 17th century, ambassadors in Europe.

It was not to last. The Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1824 under which the Dutch 
gave up all claims to India and Singapore and the British signed away 
Sumatra recognised Acehnese independence. In 1871, however, the agreement 
was amended to allow a Dutch invasion. In 1873, the Dutch set out to 
colonise Aceh. The first battle was written up in The New York Times as 
particularly bloody: "The attack was repulsed with great slaughter. The 
Dutch general was killed, and his army put to disastrous flight. It 
appears, indeed, to have been literally decimated."

US president Ulysses S. Grant later issued a famous "Proclamation of 
Impartial Neutrality in the war between Holland and Aceh", much cited by 
the separatists.

Yet the Dutch refused to give up and 30 years later, in 1903, Sultan 
Muhammed Daud Syah surrendered. He later initiated a guerilla insurgency 
and the Aceh-Dutch war dragged on intermittently until 1942, when the 
Japanese arrived in the Dutch East Indies.

Indonesia declared independence in 1945 and, with some Acehnese help, began 
to beat back the Dutch, who had returned to reclaim their possessions after 
World War II ended. Yet, say the Acehnese, they were repaid with a 
betrayal. Despite never having been formally incorporated into Dutch 
colonial possession, Aceh was forced to become part of the new nation of 
Indonesia.

Dutch colonialism was followed by Javanese colonialism, they say. In 1976 
the Free Aceh Movement was founded Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, or GAM and the 
secessionist guerilla war has been fought sporadically ever since, costing 
thousands of lives.

Independence is GAM's raison d'etre, which is why few hold out much hope 
for peace talks due to start in Tokyo today. A last-minute upset, in which 
five GAM negotiators were arrested at Banda Aceh airport yesterday on their 
way to Tokyo, threatened to derail the process.

Indonesia has been extremely touchy about separatism since the East Timor 
disaster, and it will brook no rebellion. It continues to prepare for an 
all-out military crackdown in Aceh, saying GAM must renounce independence 
before talks can begin. Since the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre brokered 
a "cessation of hostilities" agreement last December, the Acehnese have 
enjoyed a brief respite from the daily run of shootings, death and 
assaults. But now the diametrically opposed aims of Indonesia and the rebel 
leaders have again ripped the peace into tatters, and the Acehnese are 
again braced for war

http://theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6447603%255E2703,00.html
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